The pilot Swiss plan is similar to the proposed Arctic solution, except instead of entire ice caps, the target would be a small, artificial glacier at the foot of the Diavolezzafirn glacier. While the Arctic plan proposed the use of wind-powered pumps to spew water on top of ice, this mini-version of the project will use snow machines to preserve the glacier over the summer by covering it with artificially created snow.

Oerlemans and his colleagues, however, don't just plan to keep the Swiss glaciers from receding. They want to grow them back, and 4,000 snow machines might just do the trick. "In principle, even the snout could grow back," said Oerlemans. Within 20 years, he concluded, the glacier might be able to grow by 800 meters (2,625 feet) if researchers blow just a few centimeters of artificial snow over a 0.5 square kilometer (.19 sqaure mile) plateau each summer to give it cover.

In the case of the Arctic, however, it wouldn't be that simple. The area is huge, roughly 107 square kilometers (3.8 million square miles), and the plan to refreeze it with water pump would require a huge investment. If it worked, however, an extra meter of sea ice could be added in just one year, according to the Arctic plan, winding the ice cap clock back by 17 years.

Buying that sort of time might just be worth the effort required to put seemingly impossible ideas to fight climate change into action, and this smaller project in Switzerland could provide the confidence needed to give them a shot.